or SLO, is the county
seat of San Luis
Obispo County and
is adjacent to Califoran Luis Obispo nia Polytechnic State
University. The popu(Spanish for
St. Louis, the lation was 45,119 at
the 2010 census.
Bishop) is a

city in California, located roughly midway
between Los Angeles
and San Francisco
on the Central Coast.
Founded in 1772 by
Spanish Fr. Junípero
Serra, San Luis Obispo is one of California’s oldest communities. The city, referred
to locally as San Luis

History
The earliest human
inhabitants of the local area were the Chumash peoples. One of
the earliest villages
lies south of San Luis
Obispo, and reflects
the landscape of the
early Holocene when

estuaries came farther
inland. These Chumash people exploited
marine resources of
the inlets and bays
along the Central
Coast and inhabited
a network of villages
including sites at
Los Osos and Morro
Creek.
San Luis Obispo was
also a popular stop on
both U.S. Route 101
and California State
Route 1 with the rise
of car culture. Due
to its popularity as a
stop, it was the loca-

tion of the first motel,
the Milestone Mo-Tel.
Among San Luis
Obispo’s historical
buildings is the former San Luis Obispo
Carnegie Library,
located at 696 Monterey Street. The San
Luis Obispo Carnegie
Library was built in
1905 with a grant of
$10,000 from Andrew
Carnegie, who funded
the establishment of
142 California libraries in the early 1900s.
The Romanesque
style building was de-

Shell Beach is a popular
weekend getaway among
Cal Poly students.

93

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94

them, 5,690 (29.6%)
were opposite-sex
married couples living together, 1,336
(7.0%) had a female
householder with no
husband present, 586
(3.1%) had a male
householder with no
wife present. There
were 1,104 (5.8%)
unmarried oppositesex partnerships, and
124 (0.6%) same-sex
married couples or
partnerships.
There were 20,553
housing units at an
average density of
signed by architect W. makeup of San Luis
1,589.5 per square
H. Weeks of Watson- Obispo was 38,117
The Census reported
mile (613.7/km²), of
ville, California and
that 43,937 people
(84.5%) White, 523
was built by contrac- (1.2%) African Amer- (97.4% of the popula- which 7,547 (39.3%)
were owner-occupied,
tor Joseph Maino of
ican, 275 (0.6%) Na- tion) lived in houseand 11,646 (60.7%)
San Luis Obispo.
Lots of mystery sur- were occupied by
renters. The homerounds the ‘underowner vacancy
Demographics
was 1.6%; the
ground city’, or the se- rate
rental vacancy rate
ries of tunnels that exists was 5.7%. 17,225
The 2010 United
people (38.2% of the
States Census reportbeneath the city.”
population) lived in
ed that San Luis Obis- tive American, 2,350 holds, 967 (2.1%)
owner-occupied houspo had a population
lived in non-institu(5.2%) Asian, 65
ing units and 26,712
of 45,119. The popu- (0.1%) Pacific Island- tionalized group quarpeople (59.2%) lived
lation density was
er, 1,973 (4.4%) from ters, and 215 (0.5%)
in rental housing
3,489.4 people per
other races, and 1,816 were institutionalized. units.
square mile (1,347.3/ (4.0%) from two or
There were 19,193
km²). The racial
more races. Hispanic households, out of
or Latino of any race which 3,178 (16.6%)
had children under
were 6,626 persons
(14.7%).
the age of 18 living in

Resovoir Canyon
has many picturesque waterfalls
throughout the
popular hiking
trail.

“

95

Culture

ing and is home to
the San Luis Obispo
International Film
The Madonna Inn is
Festival. Another desa famous local landtination is Bubblegum
mark. Established
Alley. Since about
by Alex Madonna in
1960, people have
1958, the inn is fabeen sticking chewed
mously eccentric. The
gum on the walls of
Fremont Theater, a
this alley. The dochistoric Art Deco thetor’s office on the
ater from the 1940s,
corner of Santa Rosa
still plays first run
and Pacific streets is
movies on the huge
one of very few comscreen. Murals adorn
mercial buildings
the walls of the main
designed by Frank
theater while neon
Lloyd Wright. San
swirls light the ceilLuis also has a Carning. The Palm Theatre
egie Library which is
boasts solar heatnow home to the San

Luis Obispo County
Historical Museum.
A sculpture of a child
and bear at the Mission in downtown
San Luis Obispo. A
fish was added after
the photograph was
taken.
Lots of mystery surrounds the “underground city”, or the
series of tunnels that
exists beneath the
city.
One of the largest
Mardi Gras parades
West of the Missis-

sippi used to be held
in San Luis Obispo,
but it has been canceled recently because
of difficulties related
to crowd control and
alcohol consumption.
Cal Poly’s open
house, Poly Royal,
was held annually
from 1933 to 1990.
It was canceled in
1945 due to war
rationing. It began as
a show-and-tell for
students to display
their projects. It traces
its origins to the 1904
Farmer’s Institute and

Driving on the 101 Highway can be distracting
because of all the gorgeous scenery surrounding you.

96

Picnic Basket. By the
1980s, as the college
became “the most
popular...university in
the 19-campus CSU
system”, Poly Royal
began drawing over
100,000 people from
throughout the state,
including 126,000
people in 1985. Concerts, parties, and
other entertainment
were added and it
earned $3–4 million
in revenue for the city

“

of “several hundred
thousand dollars”
worth of damage. A
liquor store near campus, Campus Bottle,
was destroyed by
revelers demanding
alcohol. The second
night was much larger
than the first as people
were leaving a concert on campus and
parties off-campus
were broken up and
revelers flooded the
streets. Mayor Dunin

From the beautiful
coastline, to the colorful vineyards, SLO
offers a little bit of everything.”

every year.
Following a “miniriot” in 1989 at an
off-campus apartment
during Poly Royal,
the events in 1990
would cancel the
event “indefinitely.”
Two nights of rioting
on April 28–29 led
to 127 arrests, over
100 injuries and 14
police injuries on top

97

called the events “the
worst experience in
the history of San
Luis Obispo.” After
a meeting between
Mayor Dunin and
University President
Warren Baker the following Monday, Poly
Royal was canceled
from that point forward. The name Poly
Royal returned in
2001 as “Open House
Presents Poly Royal”,
a scaled down version
that was designed for

San Luis Obispo is located in the
middle of wine country. Tourists
from all over are drawn to SLO
vineyards to go on wine tasting
tours.
students and parents.
San Luis Obispo has
been home of several
other events, including a stop on the way
of the Olympic Flame
Relay, the Tour of
California bicycle
race, Cinco de Mayo
celebrations, an annual Mozart festival,
held every July, and a
long-standing Christmas Parade. Another

attraction is the development of Edna
Valley into a wellknown wine region.
Just south of the city,
people can spend an
afternoon wine tasting several wineries
in the area with a very
short drive. The wine
region extends north
beyond Paso Robles
(30 miles north) and
south to Santa Ynez

vendors sell food
and goods and various visual and music
artists perform for the
crowds.
Since June 2000,
the first Thursday of
every month is The
Bike Happening (also
known as Bike Nite)
in San Luis Obispo.
People gather after
the Farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Market
at the Mission Plaza
with their bikes. The
bikers then go around
on multiple circuits
on the main streets of
downtown adhering
to the traffic laws (for
the most part). The
ride is considered a
fun/social ride meant
to encourage people
to get back on their
bikes and to have fun.
Each Bike Happentional Film Festival,
(70 miles south).
ing has a theme and
Festival Mosaic, and
a large portion of the
During Summer
the Plein Air Festival. crowd is in some cosmonths, local resitume adherent to the
San Luis Obispo hosts theme.
dents and visitors
a Farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marcongregate in the
Mission Plaza for a
ket every Thursday
One of the cultural
free outdoor concert
night from 6-9PM
focal centers of San
every Friday evening. on Higuera Street,
Luis Obispo is the
between Osos and
The event is called
Christopher Cohen
Concerts in the Plaza. Nipomo Streets. Dur- Performing Arts Cening this weekly event, ter built on the Cal
Other noteworthy
events include the San the street is closed to Poly Campus, which
Luis Obispo Internavehicle traffic while
was constructed uti-

lizing the donations of
local businesses and
individuals. The Performing Arts Center
consists of multiple
venues, including
the original Spanos
Theatre. The largest
venue, Harmon Hall,
seats 1,300. Many
high school and college programs are
scheduled. Local
artists perform plays,
music and dance. The
addition of the Performing Arts Center
attracts many touring
performances which
are usually not found
in communities of
comparable size to
San Luis Obispo. The
Summer of 2007 was
the opening concert of
the Forbes Pipe Organ, which was built
elevated into a side
wall of Harmon Hall
and required the donation of a further $3
million for purchase
and installation.